Department for Transport

Transport Update

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: My Honourable Friend, the Minister of State for Transport (Andrew Stephenson), has made the following Ministerial Statement.I have been asked by my Right Honourable Friend, the Secretary of State, to make this Written Ministerial Statement. This statement concerns two applications made under the Planning Act 2008 relating to the A303. The first application concerns the proposed construction by Highways England of a new two-lane dual carriageway for the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down in Wiltshire (also known as the “A303 Stonehenge”application), which the Secretary of State has today approved. The second application concerns the proposed construction by Highways England of a continuous dual carriageway on the A303 linking the Podimore Roundabout and the Sparkford Bypass. Under section 107(1) of the Planning Act 2008, the Secretary of State must make his decision within 3 months of receipt of the Examining Authority’s report unless exercising the power under section 107(3) to extend the deadline and make a Statement to the House of Parliament announcing the new deadline. The Secretary of State received the Examining Authority’s report on the A303 Sparkford to Ilchester Development Consent Order application on 12 September 2019 and the deadline for a decision was previously extended from 12 December 2019 to 17 July 2020, and then further extended until 20 November 2020 to allow for further work to be carried out. The deadline for the decision is to be further extended to 29 January 2021 (an extension of just over two months) to enable further information to be provided by the Applicant and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation regarding outstanding concerns pertaining to the issue of bird strike. The decision to set a new deadline is without prejudice to the decision on whether to give development consent.

Leader of the House of Lords

Machinery of Government

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park: My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister has made the following statement:Responsibility for the Justifying Authority for new nuclear power transferred from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 6 October 2020.

Department of Health and Social Care

Ministerial response correction to Health Protection (Coronavirus, Collection of Contact Details etc and Related Requirements) Regulations 2020

Lord Bethell: I would like to apologise for any confusion that arose from my statement on 7 October 2020, regarding the collection of customer, visitor and staff contact details regulations. In my statement, I said that “the initial fine is £1,000 and is reduced to £500 for prompt payment. In response to my noble friend Lady McIntosh, as I understand it, no first offence would incur a fine.” To clarify, enforcing officers do have the ability to issue fixed penalty notices immediately upon the breach occurring. A fixed penalty notice can be issued for a number of breaches of the requirements in the regulations, including failure to:display an official NHS QR poster;request and then retain certain contact details, whether through a digital advanced booking system or non-digital logbook; orrefuse entry to individuals who do not provide their details to hospitality venues only. The first offence may therefore incur a fine of £1,000, which is reduced to £500 if paid within 14 days – though the officers retain the right to their discretionary approach under existing enforcement principles. The Government will continue to engage with local authority enforcement officers and keep these enforcement measures under review.

Ministry of Defence

Service Justice System Update

Baroness Goldie: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence (The Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. I am today informing the House that, after further and full consideration of an earlier decision announced in February 2020 in response to the Service Justice System (SJS) Review, I have taken a decision to maintain jurisdictional concurrency when dealing with cases of murder, manslaughter and rape when committed by Service personnel in the UK.Currently, decisions on which jurisdiction should deal with criminal offences in the UK by Service personnel are made by the SJS and Civilian Justice System (CJS) policing and prosecutorial authorities on a case-by-case basis. My intent is to seek views on what improvements can be made to the protocols which guide those decisions and which have developed since Parliament last expressed its view on this subject.In considering the recommendations made by the Service Justice System Review, I have come to the conclusion that, having agreed to take forward 79 other recommendations, including assurance around the quality of investigations, the SJS is capable of dealing with these offences when they occur in the UK, as well as overseas. The Service Justice System Review strongly supported the continued existence of the SJS and sets out a sound roadmap for its future.I am not, therefore, content to accept the first recommendation in the Review which would undermine the principle of concurrency between the SJS and CJS which is set out in the current legislation. While there will not be a presumption that either system takes primacy over the other, I plan to retain the current role of the Director of Public Prosecutions (in relation to cases in England and Wales) of having the final say of where a case is tried in the unlikely event of disagreement about where the case should be handled.In light of this decision, my department will lead an exercise with SJS and CJS policing and prosecutorial authorities to revise all current guidance around jurisdiction for criminal offending by service personnel in the UK. That exercise will include public engagement on factors to be considered relevant in guiding the case-by-case allocation decisions. Parliament will have an opportunity to consider these matters when parliamentary time allows, and I intend to bring forward proposals to place the arrangements for allocating cases between the SJS and CJS on a statutory basis.My department will be engaging with the devolved administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland to consider the corresponding arrangements that should exist there.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Avian Influenza: Further protection measures for kept birds

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: My Hon Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Farming, Fisheries and Food)(Victoria Prentis) has today made the following statement.High Pathogenicity H5N8 Avian Influenza has been circulating in Europe in recent weeks. There have now been two diagnosed cases in poultry in the UK, in Cheshire and Herefordshire, as well as several findings in wild birds in south-west England. The risk of further H5N8 incursion in wild birds across the UK remains high and has recently been raised to medium for poultry. We will continue to undertake comprehensive disease surveillance over the coming weeks and months.Public Health England advises that the risk to public health is very low and the Food Standards Agency has said there is no food safety risk for UK consumers.In response to the risk to poultry and other captive birds, the Department has put in place a statutory Avian Influenza Prevention Zone. The Zone requires keepers across the country to take additional steps to introduce enhanced biosecurity measures and to protect poultry and other captive birds from contact with wild birds. Some of these measures apply to all keepers, including those with small flocks or pet birds. They include:cleansing and disinfection of equipment, vehicles and footwear when moving between bird premises; effective vermin control; reducing movements of people to the essentials for the birds’ welfare, collecting eggs and feeding; keeping records of poultry, captive birds and egg movements; ensuring that buildings are maintained and that repairs are carried out without delay where water or other contamination may penetrate.The Zone will remain in place indefinitely but will be kept under review and amended as necessary in the light of any changes in circumstances. We have also made changes to licensing arrangements to prohibit events such as bird shows.Given that the disease is spreading across Europe, the introduction of this Zone has been co-ordinated with the Devolved Administrations and Scottish and Welsh Governments are introducing similar measures. Northern Ireland officials, who have been in the discussions, are reviewing their risk assessment which will inform their next steps.We have tried and tested procedures for dealing with such animal disease outbreaks and a strong track record of controlling and eliminating previous outbreaks of avian flu in the UK. Our actions are in line with established practice and with the processes followed in previous years. Avian Influenza Prevention Zones, for example, were introduced in England, Scotland and Wales in 2018. We are working closely with operational partners, devolved administration colleagues and the industry.The detections of H5N8 in poultry or captive birds have been dealt with effectively by the Animal and Plant Health Agency. We have taken robust action, imposing zones of up to ten kilometres (six miles) around infected premises to limit the risk of disease spreading, and culling birds humanely and to high biosecurity standards.Looking forward, the Department will keep the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone under review and will consider amendments to reflect any changes to the level of risk of incursion to wild birds and poultry as well as any further scientific, veterinary and ornithological advice.We have not yet required mandatory housing of all poultry and captive birds as part of our response to the disease risk. However, such a measure remains under active review as a potentially important step.We continue to urge bird keepers to be vigilant for any signs of disease, ensure they are maintaining good biosecurity on their premises, seek prompt advice from their vet and report suspect disease to APHA (as they must do by law).We strongly advise keepers to register on the Poultry Register so as to receive notifications and disease alerts. This is mandatory for all those with flocks of over 50 birds. Registration is easy and can be found at: www.gov.uk/guidance/bird-gatherings-licences .

Home Office

HMICFRS’s Inspection Report: An inspection of the National Crime Agency’s relationship with the Regional Organised Crime Units

Baroness Williams of Trafford: My rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department (Priti Patel) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement:The National Crime Agency (NCA) leads the fight against serious and organised crime (SOC). It has the power to task other law enforcement partners and a capability, with local to international reach, to disrupt the impact of SOC on the UK. This is the seventh HMICFRS inspection of the NCA and examines the relationship between the Agency and the Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCU). The focus is specifically on the collaboration arrangements, the role of the NCA’s Regional Organised Crime Coordinators (RCCs), coordination and support of operational activity, threat prioritisation and integration and co-location. I have asked HMICFRS to publish the report. It will be published today and will be available online at www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk. I will arrange for a copy to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses. The inspection found that NCA and ROCUs are working well in a number of areas of law enforcement. The NCA’s provision of specialist capabilities to the network, such as Protected Persons and Kidnap and Extortion is seen as a positive example. Meeting structures for tasking and co-ordinating operational activity work well, with ROCUs and the NCA represented at regional and national level. National tasking of regional cyber and Undercover Online (UCOL) assets is judged as mature and efficient. The report also emphasises a number of areas for improvement including the need for greater interoperability and a more systematic approach to joint working; a clearer understanding within ROCUs of the roles and responsibilities of the NCA; and more effective duty management within the NCA’s control room to ensure monitoring of the location and availability of its operational resources. It is for the NCA’s Director General to respond to these recommendations. The inspection also identified a need to review current funding arrangements for ROCUs; consider changes to legislation that would allow NCA to task ROCUs directly; and as part of the Review of the Strategic Policing Requirement, consider how greater emphasis is placed on national threats such as SOC by Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables. These recommendations are being taken forward by my officials.

Treasury

Notification of Contingent Liability

Lord Agnew of Oulton: My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rishi Sunak) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England decided at its meeting ending on 04 November to ask for an expansion in the maximum limit of purchases that may be undertaken by the Asset Purchase Facility (APF). This will encompass up to £150 billion of further purchases of gilts to support the economy.  In light of the recent economic conditions, the MPC judged further asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves should be undertaken to enable the MPC to meet its statutory objectives, and thereby support the economy. I have therefore authorised an increase in the total size of the APF of £150 billion. This will bring the maximum total size of the APF from £745 to £895 billion.  In line with the requirements in the MPC remit, the amendments to the APF that could affect the allocation of credit and pose risks to the Exchequer have been discussed with Treasury officials. The risk control framework previously agreed with the Treasury will remain in place, and HM Treasury will keep monitoring risks to public funds from the Facility through regular risk oversight meetings and enhanced information sharing with the Bank.  There will continue to be an opportunity for the Treasury to provide views to the MPC on the design of the schemes within the APF, as they affect the Government’s broader economic objectives and may pose risks to the Exchequer.  The Government will continue to indemnify the Bank and the APF from any losses arising out of, or in connection with, the facility. If the liability is called, provision for any payment will be sought through the normal supply procedure.  A full departmental Minute has been laid in the House of Commons providing more detail on this contingent liability.